I bought this puto bumbong steamer around Christmas time so I considered it as a Christmas present to myself.
People always talk about Puto bumbong around Christmas time, even Leah Salonga mentions "puto bumbong" in one of her Christmas songs. I came from Pangasinan which is considered the puto capital of the Philippines, (if there's such a thing), but unfortunately Puto Bumbong is not one of the many Puto varieties people make in that province. I've never sampled it in my whole entire life, so whenever i hear the word "Puto Bumbong", I wonder how it tastes like and how it's made, but never had any desire to learn how to make it until I purchased this odd-looking gadget. Although I didn't have a single clue on how to make it, I knew I can find out through the cyberspace and gosh, was I right! There's plenty of sources floating around out there.
Soak 1 cup black rice and 2 cups glutinous rice in water with salt overnight then grind in a blender. Drain liquid using a cheesecloth.
this is how it looks after liquid has been extracted from the ground rice, the mixture became a solid mass.
to break them up, pass the mixture, little at a time, through a sieve or a grater.
The result will be this dry, powdery rice mixture called "galapong".Ready to make the Puto Bumbong.
I followed all the instructions on how to use the steamer, wrapping the bamboo tubes or "bumbong" with some cloth to protect my fingers from getting burned, then I anxiously filled them with the "galapong". The water in the steamer was steaming. I turned the heat down so the water will just be gently boiling, I was ready!!! I then put the bamboo tubes in place.....anxiety, anxiety, yup my anxiety was building up!! Then something went awry: water leaked from around the seams of the steamer!!! water was all over the stove top. But in spite of the water leaking out from the steamer I was so determined to continued to steam the puto, wiping off the water on the stove as water kept coming out. From the instructions I got, the puto is supposed to steam in just a few minutes, but 15 minutes went by, then 30 minutes... only one tube produced a tiny steamed puto. I took this tiny puto onto a waiting piece of banana leaf sitting on the counter, slathered it with some butter as per instruction, and then sprinkled some grated coconuts and turbenado sugar.I was not impressed by the taste at all. The puto itself was bland. No wonder from the video I watched on YouTube, the makers had to put all of those toppings on them.
At least now,I know how Puto Bumbong is made.
